Melanzane a Funghetto

The name comes from the cut: eggplant diced small and fried takes on the look and the bite of little mushrooms, and 'a funghetto' — 'a fungitiello' in Neapolitan dialect — is the local shorthand for this way of cooking. The method is not unique to eggplant; zucchini and artichokes are prepared the same way across Naples and Campania, softened with garlic, oil and a little tomato until they collapse to a mushroom-like tenderness. It belongs to the summer table, a quick contorno that turns a glut of eggplant and ripe cherry tomatoes into something eaten hot, warm or cold.

The cubes come crisp at the edges and meltingly creamy within; garlic and basil perfume each forkful, the cherry tomatoes lend a sweet-tart lift, and good olive oil carries it all. It is best a little cooled, when the flavours settle.

Eggplant flesh is a sponge of air-filled cells; salting it first draws out moisture by osmosis and partly collapses that structure, so it soaks up less oil when fried. In the 180°C oil the remaining water flashes to steam and the cut faces brown through the Maillard reaction, building the golden, nutty crust while the interior turns silky. A brief final toss lets the tomatoes' acidity and glutamates season the surface without breaking the cubes down.